Stephen Bogardus News

ASCAP Award-winning writer/producer Chip Deffaa's new CD, 'The Irving Berlin Duets Album'--being released August 31st--will features such  Broadway notables as Stephen Bogardus ('Bright Star'), Jon Peterson ('Cabaret'), Seth Sikes ('The Band's Visit'), Giuseppe Bausilio  ('Hamilton'), and more.  The album, an outgrowth of shows  celebrating Berlin that Deffaa has been presenting  at the venerable 13th Street Theater, features 29  Irving Berlin duets--a mix of  famed numbers, rarities, and rediscoveries--including some never-before-recorded material.  The album--which will be available  from Amazon, CDBaby, ITunes, Footlight Records etc. on August 31st--may be pre-ordered, as either a physical CD or a digital download, here:  https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/chipdeffaasirvingberlind.  

The sun is gonna shine today because its the birthday of the legendary actor and comedian Steve Martin! In honor of the occasion, we're looking back at his Tony-nominated musical Bright Star that he wrote the score for with Edie Brickell. Get a peek inside the show's opening night with Martin and Brickell alongside cast members including Carmen Cusack, Paul Alexander Nolan, and more! Check out the full video!

ASCAP Award-winning writer/producer Chip Deffaa's new CD, 'The Boy Next Door'--being released today--features such  Broadway notables as Stephen Bogardus ('Bright Star'), John Tartaglia ('Avenue Q'), Seth Sikes ('The Band's Visit'), Charlie Franklin ('The Book of Mormon'), and others. 

ASCAP Award-winning writerproducer Chip Deffaa's new CD, 'The Boy Next Door'--being released July 23rd--will features such  Broadway notables as Stephen Bogardus ('Bright Star'), John Tartaglia ('Avenue Q'), Seth Sikes ('The Band's Visit'), Charlie Franklin ('The Book of Mormon'), and others. 

Vassar & New York Stage and Film have announced the next wave of casting for the highly anticipated 35th Powerhouse Season in Poughkeepsie, NY, which continues through Sunday, July 28.

Newly anointed Tony winner Andre De Shields capped off the theater award season by receiving the 2019 Richard Seff Award at Equity's Eastern Regional Board meeting on June 11th at Equity's office in New York.

On Monday, June 10 nearly 250 people gathered at the Tribeca Rooftop for the HB Studio Gala celebrating the centennial of its long-time master teacher, the two-time Tony Award winning actress Uta Hagen, whose 100th birthday is Wednesday, June 12.

Okay, this week, I only have to throw out two CDs, but it hurts! I'll never forget May 31, 1992--the 46th Annual Tony Awards. I had just turned 16 and was eagerly tuning in to absorb the Broadway of it all. I didn't really know much about any of the shows, other than that friends and family in New York had flipped for Guys And Dolls and that my parents had loved an earlier incarnation of Jelly's Last Jam when it played the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Glenn Close was hosting and Patti LuPone was presenting and I was not moving from my seat on the couch until I had a ranked list of the shows I wanted to see when I got to New York to visit my grandparents for Thanksgiving.

A couple of weeks ago, Actors' Equity Association ended its strike against the Broadway League related to development of new work. Most of the press regarding the strike and its termination are related to the Lab Agreement-after the strike, and a #NotALabRat social media movement, Equity members will receive profit participation for Labs. But there is a lot of the story that this spin misses.

As BroadwayWorld reported this week, the Broadway community has been taking a stand with Actors' Equity in the 'Not a Lab Rat' campaign, to increase the minimum salary for developmental labs, as well as get profit sharing for lab participants.Actors' Equity and the Broadway League have been disputing the issue, but Equity says they have reached an impasse and are now officially calling for a strike in a new statement:

As BroadwayWorld has previously reported, the Broadway community is taking a stand with Actors' Equity in the 'Not a Lab Rat' campaign, to increase the minimum salary for developmental labs, as well as get profit sharing for lab participants.

As New York celebrates Tony Award-nominated actress & singer Melissa Errico's acclaimed newly released albumSondheim Sublime, iconic NYC restaurant Sardi's honored her last week with the unveiling of her Sardi's Caricature, a longstanding Broadway tradition.

Take a look back at BroadwayWorld's archives as we bring you this throwback photo of Stephen Sondheim at opening night of West Side Story in 1980!

Tuesday night, luminaries from the Broadway and music industries gathered at the stunning new landmark building 108 Leonard Street in Tribeca to celebrate the release of Sondheim Sublime, the new album from Tony Award-nominated singer & actress Melissa Errico. Co-Hosted by Cristina Cuomo, guests included music icon Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul & Mary), Errico's husband tennis star and ESPN commentator Patrick McEnroe, acclaimed NYC artist Rachel Feinstein, Apple VP Doug Beck, handbag designer Kathy Kwei, restaurateur & burlesque star Marja Sampson, Tony Award-winners Karen Ziemba & Alice Ripley, Tony Award-nominees Stephen Bogardus, Robert Cuccioli & Will Swenson, Broadway stars Ben Davis and Ken Jennings (one of the original stars of Sweeney Todd on Broadway opposite Angela Lansbury), Met Opera star tenor Richard Troxell, singer Sasha Lazard, Indian film star & producer Ritu Pande, million dollar Met Museum donor Ellen Marcus, and the album's producer Rob Mathes (who is also the main producer for Sting and Elvis Costello).

Bruce moves out, Bob moves in! The New York Post's Michael Riedel is reporting that Conor McPherson's musical Girl From The North Country is currently making moves toward Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre.

The Public Theater just opened the North American premiere of Girl from the North Country. Written and directed by Olivier Award winner and Tony Award nominee Conor McPherson with music and lyrics by music icon Bob Dylan, Girl from the North Country weaves the music of our greatest poet-singer-songwriter into a piercing drama about home, heart, and the searching determination of the American soul. This new musical has been extended three times and will now run through Sunday, December 23.

Do not expect a rousing 'Rainy Day Woman'/'Blowin' In The Wind'/'Mr. Tambourine Man' dance mega-mix.at the end of Girl from the North Country, playwright/director Conor McPherson's lovely, introspective drama that incorporates twenty selections from the extraordinary songbook of American folk legend Bob Dylan.

The Public Theater presents the North American premiere of Girl from the North Country. Written and directed by Olivier Award winner and Tony Award nominee Conor McPherson with music and lyrics by music icon Bob Dylan, Girl from the North Country weaves the music of our greatest poet-singer-songwriter into a piercing drama about home, heart, and the searching determination of the American soul. This new musical has been extended three times and will now run through Sunday, December 23.

The Public Theater announced today a final two-week extension for the North American premiere of GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY.

Following a sold-out run at London's Old Vic and a West End transfer, GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY, from Olivier Award winner and Tony Award nominee Conor McPherson and music icon Bob Dylan makes its North American premiere at The Public with an American cast this fall. Dylan's inimitable songbook is authentically transformed by McPherson into an achingly beautiful story of a down-on-its-luck community on the brink of change in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1934.